Specters of the Past
by Sutanreyu
Summary: Ten years since the beginning of it all, Konoha finds itself losing in a devastating war against the Country of Sound. Can our current heroes, now all ten years older, overcome past conflicts and ruined relationships to save Konoha from destruction?
1. Prologue, Part 1: Outrun

**NARUTO: SPECTERS OF THE PAST**

**BY: SUTANREYU**

A trickle of light appeared on the dark grass which had begun to cover the dirt ground of the fortress courtyard. It was a needle, puncturing the darkness of the outside, overcoming the faint ambient glow offered by the full moon. At first faint and dim, it now threatened to grow; growing ever so slightly, inch by inch. Soon followed a quiet, yet increasingly steady, rumble caused by the sound of stone rubbing with soil.

_You're the only team I can rely on. You have all the necessary skills for this mission._

The light was no longer a needle. Fully visible, it was a full beam now, emanating from the opening in the large, stone fortress. It moved forward without hesitation, slowly creeping up the solid wall on the other side, making its way up to the top.

_Your mission is of utmost importance – vital to the survival of Konoha._

Under normal circumstances, the guards up along the walls would have long noticed the glow now illuminating nearly the entire courtyard. It was pure night – any new source of light would have been noticed.

_We need to find the exact location of his most prized possession. There can be no mistake in this. Be sure you are not mislead into a trap._

Under normal circumstances, the guards up along the walls would have long heard the rumbling of the stone door slowly opening amidst the quiet night. After all, the guards were Sound Ninja – one of their noted distinct advantages in battles in the recent years was their seemingly inhuman hearing.

_It disgusts me to even say this, but due to the nature of your mission…at least one of you must come back with the location. Even if it means…_

But no guard responded to either disturbance. Instead, each and every single one lay flat, dead - a single kunai to each of their heads with pinpoint accuracy. Not a single one had a chance to cry out in surprise or pain – their deaths had been instantaneous and masterfully orchestrated.

The rumbling silenced. The light's ascent up the wall stopped suddenly. The stone door stopped. Faint whispers came from the small, newly created exit out of the fortress.

_I know you all know this already, but I'll just say it anyway – your mission's chance of success increases dramatically if you remain as unnoticed as possible by the enemy. But if you are discovered, then…_

Something was wrong. The whispers became more frantic. Farther inside the fortress came distant shouts of surprise. Soon came the barking of orders. At that moment, each member of the team of four by the half-opened door came to the same realization: they were discovered!

The stone door was several metres thick, three times the height of a normal man, and easily many hundreds of pounds in weight, but it was nothing to the team of four. One of them swore and burst open the heavy stone door with a single kick, and bolted outside. Wasting no time, he easily leapt dozens of feet into the air up onto the wall. Quickly following him were his three other teammates. Taking only a split second to make a decision, the four looked at each other. The team leader gave a hand signal to the other three. They had gone through every theoretically possible scenario, failure and success, the night before. They were ready. Without hesitation, one of the three nodded and leapt away to the east; the other three made off to the south.

The once-small beam of light emanating from the entrance was now as large as the door itself, blanketing the entire courtyard that encompassed the fortress. But the light's glory was for naught, as a single dark shadow began to erase the yellow glow. Then came another shadow. And another. And another.

"Damnit, they took out all of the wall guards!"

Dozens of shinobi poured out of the entrance, furiously looking in all directions for any signs of the escaped intruders. The dark night obscured any vision they had. But they were sound ninja; they did not have to resort to vision to track the enemy. One of sound ninja began to concentrate, and started to perform hand seals…

**Hearing of the Night Bat Technique!**

All of the ninja suddenly went deadly silent. The technique performer closed his eyes and began to listen. _I will distinguish the steps of the enemy from the steps of a running bear; I will distinguish the enemy's movements in the air from the flight of a bird in the wind._ In a time that seemed like an eternity for the others, the ninja found out the direction of the intruders. His eyes snapped awake with a ferocious intensity. "Four of them, making away to the south! Quickly, they're fast!" And with that order, he, along with countless other shinobi that had joined him at the entrance, leapt up towards and over the wall…in their haste and fury, they did not notice the dozens of explosive tags attached to the kunais thrown at the dead guards…

_Then, you will have to use brute force._

A single figure laid in wait, about fifty metres east of the fortress in eager anticipation. She knew the enemy had fallen for her first trap of the night. She allowed herself a quick smile as the first of the sound ninja leapt to the wall of the fortress…

**Explosive Tags! Release!**

At that very moment, miles away, a poor old man taking a midnight stroll could've sworn he heard something. But as quickly as the sound came, it was over.

---

The rumbling and tremors of the powerful explosion at the fortress was all part of the pre-meditated plan, but yet, Rock Lee could not help but look back in surprise as he leapt forward from tree branch to tree branch. Tenten had just activated all of the explosive tags carefully planted on the kunais used to kill the wall guards of the Sound Fortress. That was phase one of the escape plan. The second phase was for Tenten to regroup with the rest of the team.

_Tenten…I hope you're alright. _ Lee worried to himself. It had only been a few seconds since the explosions – so there was no way Tenten could've possibly caught up to them so soon – but Lee could not help but worry.

"Of course Tenten is alright, Lee." Hyuuga Neji called out from ahead of Lee. Lee snapped out of his thought and looked ahead at the jonin. He could not see Neji's face as they weaved left and right in midair. Neji's hair, considered long even many years ago, was even longer and thicker now, reaching all the way down to his waist. It flowed in quick beautiful waves, as did the rest of Neji's traditional white Hyuuga robes. Often Lee would berate Neji for not wearing the combat vest that almost all Chuunin and Jonin wore, and not without cause; the standard-issue vests of today had been developed in conjunction with the Hidden Village of Sand, and featured a special thin inner layer composed of Sandweave, a rare sand that could only be found deep within the harshest deserts in the Country of Wind. It had been demonstrated years ago that even a thin 5 millimetre thick layer of Sandweave had the same absorbency as a large sand beanbag, and yet added virtually no noticeable extra weight to the vest overall. So effective the Sandweave layer was, Konoha had quickly issued upgrades to all the existing vests in service at the time.

Of course, it didn't matter how many times Lee lectured this to Neji. He chose to wear the old Hyuuga robes at all times, even in battle, if only to honour the horrific incident that had occurred only relatively recently…something that Neji swore to never discuss again.

"We went over the escape plan very carefully. This is easily within her capability." Neji continued, without looking back at Lee. It always seemed that Neji never really _looked_ at anyone in a conversation; he always seemed somewhat distant, his mind deep in reflection. "And Tenten is a very careful and precise ninja as her fighting style demands…probably more so than even the rest of us. Besides…"

Neji quickly focused his chakra, and effortlessly activated his Byakugan eyes as his veins coming from his eyes came into plain view. Finding Tenten in this forest was no problem for Neji's experienced eyes. His white vision shot out to the forest behind him at blinding speed, covering the span of many hundreds of metres in a few seconds.

"…She's coming up right behind us as I speak."

Lee turned his head back again. He knew it was a pointless gesture; Neji's Byakugan was never wrong, save for that one time, long ago, when they were but children and still genin.

He caught the black blur that was Tenten's uniform moving up quickly behind them. A few seconds later, she was alongside Lee. Like Lee, she wore the combat vest, as well as dual weapon pouches, one on each side of her waist.

Lee smiled. "Tenten, since when did you get so fast?" he inquired lightly. "I didn't think you catch up with us already."

Tenten smiled in return. Her face still retained a certain simple, yet strikingly beautiful simplicity. Unlike Neji, who had undergone a drastic visual transformation since becoming a Chuunin, Tenten looked nearly the exact same as she did many years ago, keeping the dual hair buns on her head. "Give me some credit, Lee-san! I've been working hard, you know!"

"You two! Pay attention! It's not over yet. We're moving to Phase Three now." Gai interrupted as he pushed off a tree branch, with a slight hint of annoyance. While all four of them were technically Jonin, Gai always had a little trouble not treating them, especially Tenten and Lee, as if they were still rookie Genin fresh out of the Academy, and was always quick to point out little mistakes. Of course, he knew that it was completely unnecessary, and that Lee and Tenten were heavily focused on the task at hand despite their minor chitchat. Neji, Gai had noted, was not so much subject; he always seemed calm, collected, and mature in any situation. In reflection, Gai always blamed his nitpicking on his relative old age; at 35, he knew, as hard as it was to swallow (and it indeed it was,) that his exploding youth power had all but evaporated. He noticed it in his rougher, scruffier voice, the wrinkling on his face, and his more serious attitude. Of course, as a strong advocate of hard work and commitment, he still prided himself on the fact that he seemed just as fast and strong as he was nearly a decade ago.

But even more so, Maito Gai prided himself over the fact that this team – _his_ team, the team that he trained and built to the excellence it was now – was currently regarded as the most elite out of all of Konoha's active teams today.

"Yes!" acknowledged the rest of his team unanimously.

Just like old times.

---

_So…they made away with the secret location._

A single ninja, covered in a long, black cloak, stood at the smouldering ruins and rubble that was once the walls of his fortress. Dead bodies of sound ninja, some with kunais precisely lodged in the back of their skulls, other charred from the explosion, decorated the area. He figured at least a dozen were killed from that little trick explosion alone.

_Such a simple tactic,_ the ninja noted to himself. _Is this all my soldiers are capable of? Are they so incompetent?_

Of course this was not enough to deter the rest of his guard, which had laid pursuit to the intruders. There was one thing he knew for certain: his men would eventually catch up to the enemy; after all, this was their territory, and they knew the most efficient way through it.

He walked towards the mixture of rubble and bodies slowly, like an old man. He removed his black hood from his head as he crouched down to one of the bodies, with smoke still emanating from the burnt uniform. With one hand, he turned the corpse over, so that the back was facing upward. He examined the kunai, with its expired explosion seal wrapped around the handle, and noted it was lodged just one centimetre over the occipital bone, exactly in the middle of the back of the skull. This piqued his interest, if only slightly. His face remained emotionless; his eyes betrayed no hint of that interest. He got back up, and looked for another ninja that had died from a thrown kunai.

A good number of bodies were buried under the rubble. With a simple, effortless kick, the ninja sent most of the rubble flying outward, as well as several corpses from the sheer power of the kick. The rocks and bodies bounced off uselessly the trees in the distance. He found another ninja that appeared to have been killed the same way as the previous subject, and examined the head.

The kunai was lodged in the exact same position as the previous one. One centimetre over the occipital bone.

Just like the other bodies that he examined subsequently.

_This kunai work…is from a single ninja. The pattern is the consistent throughout all the bodies. And the explosion tags used to detonate the wall. _

_This style…it rings a bell…from a long time ago…_

_Could it be…her?_

_If that is the case, then **they** are responsible for the attack._

_Hmph. It looks like these men wont be the only to die tonight…and it looks like I'll have to get my hands dirty as well…_

The dark figure disappeared into the night.

---

"Byakugan!" Neji activated his bloodline technique once more.

He scanned the region several hundred metres behind him and the rest of his team. And then he saw them: pursuers, wanting revenge for their dead comrades, closing in.

"I see them," Neji declared to the rest of his team. "Tenten, you ready?"

Tenten reached into her weapon pouches, each with one arm, and readied several kunai in each hand by her fingers, and nodded. "Ready!"

Neji focused hard on the ninja with his Byakugan eye. "Two of them. Forty-two degrees downward, fifty-seven degrees to your right; the other same vertical angle, sixty-one degrees to your right. And…now!"

In midair, Tenten twirled to face the direction that Neji just indicated. Her movements in the air were smooth and graceful, like a dancer. With her right hand, she threw the two kunai in her hand with deadly, 100 precision. The kunai bore down on its targets at that precise angle, narrowly avoid branches and trees.

The two targets down below were just about ready to mount their own attack to avenge the death of their comrades. Pouring all of their chakra into their feet, they desperately tried to catch up to the intruders.

In their focused intent to kill, they never anticipated a perfectly executed counter. By the time they had noticed the two kunai speeding with impossible speed, power and accuracy bearing straight towards their heads, it was over. The kunai cut straight through their forehead protectors. The inertia of the kunai sent their heads reeling backwards, with the rest of their bodies following as they fell to the ground in a heap.

At the same time, Tenten finished her 360 degree spin in the air, and was facing forward once again.

"Another one, fifty-eight degrees downward, seventy-two degrees to your left!"

Perfect. Tenten readied one of the two kunai in her left hand. The position of the target did not require her to twist her direction like the first time. Almost casually, Tenten launched the kunai at the third target. Like his first two brethren, he never saw it coming.

By then, the remaining pursuers had caught on, realizing the nearly impossible deaths of their fallen comrades. With an unspoken thought, they all switched their tactics. Their reckless, suicidal running through the wilderness suddenly became a deliberate dash from tree to tree, using them as cover from Tenten's counterattacks.

Neji, with Byakugan still activated, noticed their pattern shift almost as soon as it was executed, and quickly re-analyzed the situation. "It would appear as though our pursuers have changed their pursuit strategy."

"They've decided suicide wasn't quite their style?" Lee quipped jokingly, raising an eyebrow towards Neji.

"They're finally acting like real ninja…they're using the terrain as cover now." Neji replied, without looking back. "I don't think the window of time between their jumps from cover to cover is large enough for me to detect and for you to counter, Tenten."

"That's a shame," Tenten frowned.

"We'll move to the third phase then," Gai called out. "Le-"

"The third phase! ALRIGHT!" Lee interrupted loudly, catching both Gai and Neji off guard. "Neji, tell me where to strike, please!"

_I see you still haven't lost the power from your explosion of youth, Lee._ Gai smiled faintly to himself. _And you're just as eager as you've always been. In that case…_

"NEJI! COMMENCE THE THIRD PHASE, NOW!" Gai screamed wildly, with twice the ferocity of Lee's.

_Gai sensei…it seemed kind of weird to act that way ten years ago…now its just downright…freaky…_Tenten thought to herself.

"…Uh…" Neji stuttered for a moment. He certainly didn't expect that outburst coming. "Three of them have regrouped; fifteen degrees to your left, twenty-two degrees downward-"

"Alright!" Lee acknowledged, with a clenched solid fist. As he landed on a tree branch, he quickly reached down under his ankle coverings for his massive weights, and detached them with a solid clunk. Gripping one in each hand, he threw both down to the forest ground below, and with a quick smile, he seemingly disappeared.

---

The three sound ninja ran with lightning speed from one tree cover to the other. Despite the minor recent setbacks – _one _of them was impossibly good at throwing weapons, it seemed – they were ready to attack. Two other teams were in position – they would unleash the full power of their long range sound ninjutsu.

_Commence in three, two-_

All of a sudden, the ground around them trembled, and a loud explosion echoed through the forest. Then they saw it: a large mound of dust, rising from the ground to their right.

"What the hell was that?" one of the sound ninja exclaimed.

"_A distraction."_

That voice did not belong to any of them. They all looked forward, and suddenly saw a green blur materialize in front of them.

"What-"

_"Konoha Whirlwind!"_

Lee's wide sweeping, powerful kick sent one of the ninja flying backwards. His body collided with the two other ninjas, who had been following tight formation. Their bodies flew backwards into a large tree.

Lee smiled again, and in a flash, rejoined the rest of his team.

---

"Back." Lee proclaimed as he materialized in front of Neji.

_That was almost instantaneous,_ Neji noted. _Lee, your speed is incredible…_

"Right." Neji acknowledged, and scanned for the remaining two teams in pursuit. As expected, he found them at the same relative position as they were before. But at the very moment, something completely unexpected happened.

They stopped.

Gai sensed Neji's unusually long moment of hesitation as a sign that something was wrong. "Neji. What's wrong?"

Neji's face, in slight disbelief, still looked forward. "The ninja…they stopped."

Lee smirked. "Heh. They must've broken off pursuit since we took out so many of them-"

_No. That isn't it._ Neji told himself, his look of disbelief growing slowly. _They stopped for another reason. But what else could it possibly be, if-_

And then the reason hit him.


	2. Prologue, Part 2: Outrun

Author's Note: I can't believe I forgot to put a few preliminary notes in the first chapter! I'm relatively new to so I dont quite know how to modify an existing chapter. So I guess I'll have to compensate with a larger-than-usual-note here (sorry!).

1. I purposely split up the prologue into two parts because it was too long originally. The rest of my chapters, for the sake of consistency, will generally be around this length, give or take.

2. I noticed most people included CharacterXCharacter in their story descriptions, since many Naruto fics here are romance-related. I don't want to alienate all of you and NOT post any potential implied love interests I have in this story, BUT this is first and foremost an action/reflection story. Romance will be in the story, but it is not the central focus; rather I found it nice to include it to enrich the overal plot. In fact, I highly doubt there will be anything serious, but rather most of it will be implied. So, without further adieu: NarutoxSakura, NarutoxHinata, ShikamaruxTamari, TentenxLee,KonohamaruxSakura

3. I will try for 1 chapter a week, give or take.

4. Like I said before, this is my first foray into fanfic writing, so constructive critism is heavily appreciated. Thank you, and enjoy my story!

Sutanreyu

---

An immense chakra had just appeared in his Byakugan vision, easily dwarfing the other sound ninja. It was far back, but it was gaining on the team, very quickly. He looked deeper into the new ninja that was approaching. How could that one have such large chakra? Who was he? Neji probed even deeper. His vision narrowed on the target, and his appearance came into focus.

For a moment, Neji's heart stopped beating as he saw the identity of the immensely powerful ninja. He landed on a tree branch and stopped. He crouched with a single knee down on the tree branch as his long, flowing hair slowly floated back down to its natural position. He began to tremble. Previously in disbelief, his face betrayed yet another emotion.

Fear.

The rest of his team stopped around him in a circle. Gai crouched directly in front of Neji, who looked like he had just seen a ghost. Placing a hand on Neji's shoulder, Gai stared intently at the accomplished jonin, who was very seldom surprised by anything. "Neji, what's wrong? What did you see?"

There was another moment of complete silence before Neji slowly raised his gaze from the bottom of the forest to Gai's eyes. "It's not what…its…_who_…its…_him_!"

The same revelation that had slapped Neji cold came to Gai almost immediately. "But…that's impossible! The Hokage told us that _he_ wouldn't be released until at least a month from now!" Gai exclaimed.

"What!" the cry was unanimous from both Lee and Tenten.

Neji's head sunk again. "No. It _is him._ There is no mistaking the chakra, the murderous intent…" his voice trailed off.

_This can't be,_ Gai thought to himself. _Months of preparation and spying – even the Hokage was directly involved in this operation! How could – how could he be wrong? How could all of us be wrong?_

"If this is the case," Lee announced, "then we have no choice but for the four of us to stand our ground and fight him together, as a t-"

"No." Gai interrupted solemnly. It was a direct command.

"But-"

"Even if the four of us work together and attack him directly, he would still kill us all. Numbers – they do nothing against _him_. _His_ power is too great – possibly even for the Hokage himself…" Gai replied, his own gaze dropping downward. He found himself straining to say the next part. "There…is only one chance for this mission to succeed. And we all know the importance of that, regardless of what has just happened."

"I…will fight him alone. I…will stall him long enough for the three of you, my students, to escape and arrive back to Konoha alive!"

Gai proclamation was met with further silence. None of the four could bear look at each other. And the three other jonin wanted to argue Gai's decision desperately; they wanted to stand their ground with their old teacher until the very end – but deep down, the three of them knew Gai was right. His way was the only way.

Lee slammed the tree trunk with his hand. "You can't do this, Gai-sensei!" he yelled passionately, very well knowing the logic facing against him. "If you do this, you'll die!"

_Die._ The single word echoed within Gai's mind.

_Yes, I surely will die. _Gai told himself with a grim certainty.

"I know." Gai responded. He lifted his gaze to the three ninja surrounding him, one by one. "But this is how it must be. I…am truly no longer useful to Konoha. I…you…"

_Gai sensei…how difficult this must be for you to say…_Tenten thought to herself.

"You, my students… have long since surpassed me as a ninja. Ever since I first met you three as genin, I knew that one day, all of you would become Konoha's best. The three of you…have truly grown into fine jonin."

"I have long since reached the peak of my potential as a ninja," Gai continued, without looking at any of his students. "But the three of you…you still have a chance to become even more powerful. The three of you will one day stand a chance against that monster, I know it!"

Then, unexpectedly by the rest of his teammates, Gai smiled and gave a thumbs-up. His trademark pose for as long as Lee, Neji, and Tenten knew, it was always a symbol of hope and Gai's typical overconfidence. However, this time, it conveyed a completely different meaning. It was his final goodbye; his final memoir to be remembered by, and a message.

_Live. Live for me, and one day, avenge my death. _

A chill breeze, followed by the ruffle of branches and leaves seemed to pass by the team as they remained still and silent. It was then Gai turned the other direction, and prepared to leap off into the dark forest.

A bandaged hand firmly gripped Gai's shoulder just about as he was prepared to jump. Gai whirled around, and found himself staring directly at Lee. Lee's face was trembling, and tears threatened to pour out his eyes.

"I can't let you fight him alone, Gai-sensei! I refuse!" Lee exclaimed, his voice breaking under his sadness. "If you must…take me with you! I want to…I want to be by your side until the very end! I-"

It was in his passionate plea that Lee did not notice the slight _whoosh_ of Neji stealthily approaching with a small jump behind him. Neji, with his Byakugan activated, had Lee's chakra points all mapped out in his eyes; in particular he was focused on two points on the base of the neck, near the shoulder. He landed behind Lee, making a small thump as his feet made contact with the large tree branch that both he and Lee were now standing on. Lee began to turn his head around to the sound of the noise, but by then it was already too late. Neji, with two fingers and inhuman precision, pushed on the two precise chakra points on Lee's neck.

It was an instantaneous reaction. Lee gave out a brief cry as his grip on Gai loosened and his body quickly collapsed in a heap onto the branch, losing consciousness. Not wasting any time, Neji picked Lee's unconscious body up from the tree branch, and slung his body over his shoulder. His gaze returned to Gai, who remained emotionless throughout the entire sudden event. The two of them nodded slightly. They both knew they had no time to waste.

Gai turned around once more, and jumped into the dark distance. Neji and Tenten glanced at each other quickly, and nodded as they made off quickly and quietly in the opposite direction.

It would be the last time that Team Gai, in its entirety, would be together.

---

_I will certainly die._ The thought kept repeating itself in Gai's mind as he made his way deeper and deeper back into the forest he was desperately trying to escape less than a minute ago.

_I will certainly die._

But he certainly wouldn't make it easy for his opponent, Gai assured himself with grim determination. _I've prepared for a moment similar to this hundreds of times in my mind before. I know every possible trick a ninja could possibly know. Yes – I am ready…no, not just ready. I am willing!_

Gai landed on a tree branch and stopped in a crouched defensive position. This was close enough, he told himself. All he had to do now was prepare, and wait.

_I will unleash my full power._

_First Gate – release!_

The first gate was no trouble to Gai. Over the course of his ninja career, he had activated it so many times that it became almost second nature to him. The extra muscle stress was barely perceptible.

_Second Gate – release!_

­_Third Gate – release!_

Green chakra began to glow around his body slowly. The air around him intensified in speed and heat as he clenched his hands and gritted his teeth in exertion.

_Fourth Gate – release!_

_Fifth Gate – release!_

By then the green chakra began to form strands, orbiting in a circular motion around Gai's body. The whirling winds around him blew his jet black hair straight up. His skin, which was normally only slightly tanned, started to turn into a deep maroon color.

_Sixth Gate – release!_

Gai could no longer contain the exertion required to release the higher gate levels. He began to yell as his crouched stance began to tighten even further. The tree branch below him, nearly a metre thick, began to buckle and crack underneath him.

_Seventh Gate – release!_

The explosion of power was enormous. Now the green chakra expanded and formed a protective bubble around him, swirling rapidly. Birds and other wildlife were scared off by the gusts of wind caused by the swirling chakra and Gai's piercing howl.

_Finally…Eighth Gate…_

_RELEASE!_

At that very moment, miles away, Neji noticed a strong chakra disturbance with his Byakugan, catching him off guard like the first time. He and Tenten were dashing on foot on ground, as jumping from tree branch to tree branch with Lee on his shoulder would exert too much stamina.

"Gai is powering up," Neji announced to Tenten, re-adjusting his over-arm grip on Lee. "I think…he's released seven – no wait – eight…eight gates."

Tenten afforded herself a quick glance to the side at Neji. "Incredible," she responded in awe. "I've never seen Gai-sensei at his full power before. Have you?" she asked.

Neji shook his head. "No."

There was an awkward moment of silence between the two. Both wanted to ask the obvious question. Tenten broke first.

For a moment, her face shined with brief optimism. "Do you think, with eight gates opened, that Gai will be able to-"

"No." was the solemn response. It was like a slap in the face to Tenten, even though she had known the answer already. "There is no doubt that Gai is immensely powerful at this state. Perhaps even more powerful than the Hokages of old, but – it is even more certain that his opponent…is even stronger still."

Whatever glimmer of hope Tenten betrayed on her face evaporated as her gaze fell back down.

_Gai…I'm so sorry…_

The sheer amount of chakra was almost too difficult to control. Up until now, Gai had never transcended past the sixth level – not that he couldn't, but rather, he had never faced an opponent powerful enough to warrant going beyond.

The sixth level seemed like nothing in comparison to feeling he had now. He felt the raw, unleashed chakra flowing through his veins and his pores and the searing heat around him generated from the green chakra surrounding him in a bubble. His muscles were in a state of complete firmness as veins bulged out from his forearms, temples, and hands. His teeth were clenched, his hair blown upwards. His combat senses seemed to have increased tenfold; despite the effort he was exerting now to maintain his current state, Gai had never felt better before in his life.

_I'm ready for you!_

And, seemingly just in time, he saw a black figure dashing towards him in the distance. Yes, it was him. Gai's eyes tracked his opponent intensely, watching his every move.

Then the figure stopped abruptly on a tree branch facing Gai, just barely twenty yard away. He was draped in a heavy black cloak that reached all the way down to his ankles and hooded his face, and was decorated with red poppies.

_The uniform of an Akatsuki member. _Gai told himself. _He wears it as a momento to his victory a long time ago._

There was a moment of silence as the two opponents analyzed each other. The cloaked opponent appeared virtually still. With his face covered in darkness, it was impossible for Gai to gauge his opponent. Not that it mattered.

Then, almost too faintly, Gai's opponent spoke. "Maito Gai. It has been a long time."

Gai took the opportunity to take the upper hand, if only verbally. "Then its best that you do not underestimate my growth in strength and speed." He declared confidently, his gaze not moving an inch from his opponent. "I don't care what Bloodline you have in you."

"Hmm. I see from your appearance and tone of voice that you have…no intention of letting me pass." His opponent responded, remaining completely still and emotionless. "Are you trying to ensure the secret reaches the ears of Konoha's hokage? Or perhaps you are trying to spare the lives of your precious students?"

Gai's face twitched in minor annoyance. _How **dare **he__try to second guess my actions. _"I've been preparing for this moment nearly all my life. I know the secrets to beating your kind!" he shouted. "You will never stop the rest of my team from accomplishing their mission!"

Gai seemed to hear a faint chortle come from his opponent. "Oh, about your…precious students and the secret they know. It doesn't matter to me anymore. Let them tell your all-powerful Hokage everything they've discovered. After all, you must have come to realize the truth by now. _It's too late."_

_Damnit…_ Gai cursed to himself silently.

"Now…what were you saying about wanting to fight me, Maito Gai?" his opponent teased. His arms began to raise towards his hood slowly. The crimson ring on his finger seemed to glow faintly in the distance. "I _see_…that you've released eight gates. That's impressive, even for you, a jonin. But…"

His hands clutched onto the dark hood, and casually tossed it backwards, finally exposing the long ebony hair that flowed downwards to his face. He slowly raised his head to face Gai directly, revealing his face.

Uchiha Sasuke. The Betrayer of Konoha.

"You'd need to open _all _gates to even stand a chance against me." He finished, smiling darkly. His eyes locked with Gai's. And then, in an instant, Gai saw the muscles around his opponent's eyes strain for a split second, and then saw his eyes turned a dark, blood red, with three black dots orbiting the pupil. "At your current level, I won't even have to use the Mangekyou Sharingan."

_What?_ Gai's once solid stare melted as his expression betrayed surprise. _This can't be…I was expecting my death, but…I'm this weak compared to him!_

"What's wrong, Maito Gai?" Sasuke asked coyly. "A moment ago you seemed fully prepared to take me head on." He raised his right arm, with his palm facing himself. He then gestured with his hand to attack. "Come, I will even…let you have the first attack."

_Damnit…how dare he!_ Gai cursed to himself again. That was it. He had enough. It was time to test himself against the Sharingan for good…

Gai crouched into a sprinter's position, and then, using the tree branch as a spring, leapt off towards Sasuke with blinding speed and power. The thick tree branch behind him cracked and burst off, flying backwards as dust blossomed, sending a loud boom throughout the forest.

He feinted left and right, leaping from tree to tree, trying to overwhelm his opponent with his impossibly rapid movements that even some of the most powerful jonin were unable to see. Each time he bounced off a tree, smoke and dust appeared from where his feet made contact.

_There's no point in wasting time,_ Gai told himself._ I will open with the Primary Lotus!_

And then he sprung his final attack. Gai seemed to materialize directly in front and below Sasuke instantly. Placing both his hands down on the tree trunk where Sasuke stood and using it as support to push off from, Gai shot a single leg upwards towards his opponent's chin.

The kick could have easily dislodged Sasuke's head from his neck if he connected fully. All of Gai's power was placed into his leg and foot; his kick had easily broken the speed of sound. In that instant, Gai thought that he might just have a chance against his Sharingan opponent.

In that same very instant, just centimetres before Gai's kick would send Sasuke flying upwards, he saw Sasuke's right hand move upwards to protect his chin at an even faster speed than Gai had ever witnessed. It seemed like an eternity as Gai's foot mover closer and closer, millimetre by millimetre, to its target…

And then Sasuke's hand did the impossible; he blocked Gai's howling kick effortlessly, just barely right below his chin. A gigantic boom from the sound of the impact echoed throughout the forest. It felt like as if he had just kicked a solid mountain; all of his power and speed evaporated into nothingness, instantly.

Sasuke moved his gaze downward to a now trembling Gai. His hand firmly gripped Gai's outstretched foot.

_This is…impossible…_Gai stammered to himself in his mind, as his mouth went slightly agape. _All the power and speed of eight gates…and he was able to stop it so effortlessly, so easily with one hand!_

"Is this…all you've got?" Sasuke asked casually as his grip on Gai's foot tightened. "Frankly, I was expecting more from the power of the Ten Gates. But I guess…I was wrong."

"It is pointless to continue the battle." Sasuke pulled on the foot with his hand, sending Gai flying past over his right shoulder. In almost slow motion, a single kunai appeared on Sasuke's left hand and bore it down towards Gai's head just as it was level with Sasuke's chest.

_This is it…_ was Gai's final thought as the tip of the blade stabbed the side of his head, at the temple.

Then, blackness.


	3. Chapter 1: A Hint of the Past

Hi, hope you're still around to enjoy this! I sincerely apologize for killing off Gai straight off the bat. But you'll probably want to grab an entire kleenex box, because I'm only going to commit more _sins..._and don't think I'm joking! Anyway, I've probably committed some sort of author's taboo by having the full first chapter...taking place **before** the prologue! Ouch! Lastly a few corrections (I **sincerely **apologize for these errors I made last chapter)

1) It's not TentenxLee, its Tentenx**Neji**   
2) I find myself fairly incosistent with the use of japanese honorifics such as "-sama". I apologize for this, and I assure you I will standardize my use of honorifics.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. Thanks for the reviews and comments, any suggestions will be seriously considered. Enjoy this (relatively) light-hearted chapter, and I'll see you next week! (If you haven't finished mourning Gai's death yet.)

Sutanreyu  
---

Chapter 1 – A hint of the past

_3 years prior to the prologue…_

Hanuro Sakura woke up with a subdued groan as her alarm clock began to ring violently with an all-too familiar high pitched screech. Almost instinctively, her right arm reached upwards towards her alarm clock, and quickly bore down on the alarm with her hand to silence it.

Still half asleep, Sakura, at least once a week, forgot to cut off the flow of chakra to her hand as it bore down on the hapless alarm clock. Today was one of those days. Her hand smashed the alarm clock into a tiny thousand bits and pieces as the ringing bells were suddenly silenced.

Sakura's eyes opened with a jolt as she realized her grave mistake. Rising slowly up on her bed, with her pink bed sheet covers still over her, she looked at the now-destroyed alarm clock. She picked up the largest intact piece remaining and brought it close to her face. There was definitely no hope for this one.

"Sakura, you're going to have to stop doing that." She noted to herself sheepishly. With a reluctant push, she slid her way out of the bed and went for the curtains covering her apartment window. Paying particular attention to her chakra regulation this time around, she gently pulled apart the curtains, letting in a warm, soothing bath of fresh yellow sunlight envelop her body. Outside was a typical Konoha morning; bright, warm, and always cheerful. She heard the sound of children running around in the streets laughing, playing tag; the flight of birds flying by, chirping, and the occasional travelling salesman yelling out his wares. Sakura closed her eyes and sighed in content.

Life was good.

Yawning, Sakura made her way to the bathroom on the other side of her bed, and flicked on the light. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Her pink hair was in complete disarray. Her hair had been essentially unchanged for a long time now; it was still relatively trim, just barely reaching her shoulders. She liked the look; it made her appear more intelligent, she thought.

Sakura sighed. Time to hit the shower.

---

The shower was relatively uneventful and short. Finding clothes to wear wasn't quite an ordeal for her, either. Most ninja females at the rank of chuunin or above seemed to neglect their combat vest; Sakura continued that trend. She had donned a red sleeveless shirt and jet black pants, and was in the process of putting on her white boots. As she finished, she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, and made towards the exit from her room.

Sakura closed her apartment door behind her. Quickly, she double-checked the contents of her bag: notes for today's lesson at the Medicinal Academy; old test papers she had to return to a few students; a carefully packed bento lunch, and lastly and a few old medical jutsu scrolls that Tsunade-sama had instructed her to read and learn.

_I've so much to learn about medical jutsu, yet here I am, teaching the very same thing to aspiring medical ninja…_ Sakura thought to herself as she locked the door. She headed down to the end of the hallway on her floor past several other rooms, and opened the exit door to the outside, which was located on the side of her building. She walked down several flights of stairs outside. Once she reached the bottom, she turned left out of the side alley and into the main street in front of her apartment building.

As she reached the street, Sakura jumped backwards with a gasp, narrowly avoiding a collision with a child as he was chasing after his friend in a game of tag. The contents of her bag nearly fell out as she did. "Hey! Watch where you're running!" she yelled out as the two kids whizzed by. She barely made out a passing "Sorry!" from one of the children as they ran off the other way to her left. She grabbed the loose strap from her bag and slung it back over her left shoulder as she stepped out onto the street, this time without any interruptions. She turned right and easily blended in with the passer-by crowd.

Like most other days in Konoha, the general atmosphere was very cheerful and bright; several entrepreneurs had a few stands set up along the side of the street selling general wares and trinkets; there would be the occasional store or restaurant every few blocks. Sakura's apartment was just off one of the busiest streets in Konoha; the sheer number of people walking around made that evident. Most were just family people and general workers; once in a while there would be a ninja or two doing a round of patrols.

The same street Sakura was on was also the same street that ultimately led to the head office of the Hokage, as well as the main ninja academy for Konoha. From Sakura's house, it was about a twenty minute walk. Looking forward into the distance, she could make out the head office; not too far to the side she saw the academy. Even further in the distance, there was the large brown rock cliff in the middle of the village, the one that had the mugs of all of Konoha's Hokages. Currently, there was five portraits engraved onto the cliff, with the most recent one being Tsunade-sama, the first female Hokage in the history of Konoha.

Sakura sighed as she continued up the street. So far, the reign of the fifth Hokage had been fairly uneventful, but prosperous. Aside from a few minor military conflicts at the border regions of the Country of Fire, there hadn't been any serious battles for a good few years. This left time for Tsunade to focus on other reforms; the most noticeable one was the complete rebirth of the Medical Ninja corps, and the assignment of one medical ninja per 4 man team. Tsunade had made clear that she'd wished this for Konoha for many decades, but was ultimately rejected. Of course, now that she had the power of the Hokage, her dream had been made reality. While there had been some initial opposition, especially from some of the veteran and retired ninja, as well as the ANBU corps, they were quickly persuaded otherwise when success stories of medical ninja saving lives on the battlefield became well-known.

One might've thought that with the bulk of her attention fixated on restoring the medical corps, the military and covert aspect of the ninja corps might've taken a hit. It was well-known that the Third had completely favoured ANBU squads and general combat ninja over medical ninja; in his reign, ANBU infiltration was at its peak, and the number of jounin-class ninja had nearly doubled from the Second's reign. The Fifth, knowing this, had decided that it would have been an insult to all of the Third's hard work if she tried to undo his workings. Instead, she implemented an ingenious plan that reduced the overall number of combat ninja being trained every year (and with that spared manpower she transferred into the medical ninja corps instead), but still managed to maintain the overall superior integrity of the combat division. Drawing from her experiences with the exceptional ninja from Sakura's class, Tsunade put an emphasis on quality over quantity. She believed in the power of the individual. Instead of training many combat ninja and having most of them being fairly mediocre and only a select few truly powerful, Tsunade cut the overall number of Chuunin and Genin by about a third. This effectively limited combat ninja enrolment to the more gifted and talented. Since the number of students was fewer, this allowed the instructors to focus even more on the individual student, which further bolstered their growth.

Although Konoha had never seen another battle on the same scale as the Sound-Sand attack, it had been rumoured for the past few years that every genin-to-chuunin graduate from Konoha had twice the power of a typical chuunin ninja from other countries. Coupled with the new medical ninja corps, some had thought Konoha's four-man ninja teams were neigh-unstoppable.

"Sakura-chan!" an unknown person jumped on her from behind, nearly knocking Sakura to the ground. Sakura let up a tiny scream as she momentarily freaked out. Sakura's head whipped around to see who was insane enough to jump her like that…

Luckily, she saw a familiar face as she did. "Ino-pig! You idiot!" Sakura scolded with a menacing look on her face. Her left arm reached behind her right shoulder to grab Ino's face in retaliation, but by then Ino had already gotten off Sakura's back and made her way beside Sakura. She had a gleeful look as she glanced at Sakura. "Nice to see you too, Sakura." She greeted, placing a gentle hand on Sakura's hand to console her. Throughout the past few years, Ino had undergone a noticeable visual transformation. Her hair, once just simply long and blonde, was now partially highlighted with black streaks. She wore a tight green sleeveless top that left a little hint of cleavage. For her bottom half, she had chosen to don a small white skirt that barely managed to reach her knees. With a gentle sniff, Sakura was able to pick up some sort of perfume that Ino had decided to apply.

Sakura sighed. "So, what ARE you doing here, Ino?" she asked, trying to sound as uninterested as possible. "You're usually elsewhere."

Ino's brows furrowed. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" she shot back playfully, looking at Sakura. "I just wanted to catch up with one of Konoha's brightest ninjas, that's all. Maybe learn a thing or two, even."

Sakura sent an un-amused look back at Ino. "Oh come on, Ino…we both know the art of ninja are the last thing on your mind nowadays."

Ino grinned with a certain satisfaction as her head turned to the left just as an attractive male chuunin passed by. Their two gazes met for a moment, and Ino sent a playful wink at the chuunin. Embarrassed, the chuunin looked straight ahead and quickly walked away. "Well, I'll have to admit my ninja skills aren't quite up to par anymore, and that the flower shop is taking up most of my time-"

Sakura raised an eyebrow slyly, unconvinced. "You mean _men_ are taking up your spare time." She interrupted. She glanced at Ino and caught her taking a peek at the chuunin. "There you are! Doing it again. You're always flirting with men." She gently pushed on Ino's shoulder, bringing her attention back into the conversation.

"Hey – ow." Ino recoiled slightly from Sakura's push. "You have to watch that monstrous strength of yours, Sakura – I don't even know if you can hold a flower properly without crushing it to shreds." She teased, and Sakura sent another sly look back at Ino. "Besides, it's not exactly like _you_ should be lecturing _me_ about guys, either."

Sakura whirled her head back forward in slight embarrassment as her grip on her bag tightened. "I – I don't know what you're talking about, Ino." She replied curtly, not looking at her partner.

Now it was Ino's turn to be on the offensive. "Not from what I hear!" she responded brightly, smiling. "I hear whats-his-name Konohamaru has been pretty aggressive on you for the past few months…and I mean, he's a fresh-looking boy for sure, but isn't he kind of, _young_ for you Saku-"

Sakura nearly dropped her bag in surprise. If she were drinking something at the moment, she imagined she would have spat the contents out of her mouth. She sent a wide-eyed expression to Ino. "Konoha-_Konohamaru_? That kid? Well, well definitely he's far too young – I'm like five years older than he is! And – and besides, its _him_ coming on to me, not the other way around." She defended herself hastily.

Ino's grin widened even more. "You're stammering, Sakura! Are you sure you don't feel _anything_ for him at all?" she tested.

"No. Absolutely not! Never!" Sakura answered vehemently. "It's just a crush thing on his part, clearly – he's just at that age. It'll pass soon, I know." She continued, although not quite as confidently as before.

Ino chuckled gleefully. "Perhaps," she nodded. Despite this, she wasn't willing to stop pressing on Sakura quite yet. "And there's this one question that's been burning on my mind for the longest time now…"

Sakura sighed. She knew Ino far too long for her to make this subject matter easy on her. "Well, since I'm already swatting flies, you might as well keep them coming…"

"What exactly do you feel about Naruto? I know the two of you always had such an interesting relationship with each other, especially in the past few years, but there's never been quite the official word, if you know what I mean."

This time Sakura paused completely, both verbally and physically. For a moment, her heart stopped beating. Her head drooped down, as if in silent repentance. "Naruto…" she whispered quietly to herself as she stared at the brown dirt below her. Shadows, cast by others walking on the street, passed by her vision. "He, well…I…"

_Sakura, I…_her mind recalled Naruto's deep, yet uncommonly fresh voice. Even though Naruto had matured like everyone else, he still seemed to have maintained that same youthfulness as he did when they first met. For a moment, her mind went back to that starry night, nearly several years ago…the warm, familiar touch of Naruto's hand on her bare shoulder…_There's been something I wanted to say, about us…_

Her mind snapped out of her momentary dream. She looked up at Ino, but this time with a happy, beaming face, with a wide and generous smile she was so famous for. "Well, obviously I care for him greatly. After all, we've known each other for more than seven years. We've been on countless missions together in life-or-death situations. Heck, I've saved his life many times too. We're like siblings now – brother and sister. Yes – that's it. So it shouldn't it be obvious that we're close, isn't that right, Ino?" she asked optimistically.

_I think it was much more than that, Sakura…_ Ino thought to herself. _ But for Sakura to react this way…it seems like I've hit a chord. Something unfortunate must have happened to those two…I think its time for me to back off on the subject…_

"Of course, Sakura. It's perfectly natural, I agree." Ino nodded with the same expression as Sakura's. "I mean, even though I don't go on many missions with Shikamaru and Chouji and Asuma anymore, I still treat and remember them fondly."

"Yes. Definitely." Sakura responded, although not nearly as optimistically as previously. Sakura resumed her walk to the Academy, which was less than a few minutes away now. Obviously, to Ino, Sakura was still feeling some sort of regret.

"So I hear Naruto has been far away for some more intensive study with Jiraya-sama again for the past year. Or maybe while under some covert mission." Ino commented casually. "And that no one really knows where the two are, except for maybe the Hokage."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, he is. I can't say it's not expected – Jiraiya-sama is one of the wisest and powerful ninja around for Konoha today, and it would be an honour for anyone to be under his instruction. Besides, he is getting a bit old. He'd probably want to pass of as much of his techniques, experience, and knowledge on to Naruto anyway." She said.

Ino agreed. "Of course – although I think there might be another, much larger reason for his disappearance with Jiraiya, though."

Now the two were finally at the Academy gates. The facility itself had undergone some minor renovation since the major Sound-Sand attack many years ago but for the most part remained the same. There was a gigantic courtyard in front for the younger ninja students to play. Now was such a time; little children bustled back and forth in the playground, some pretending to elite ninja, while some others chatted with each other. Sakura and Ino stopped at the gates, facing each other.

"Oh really? And what do you think, Ino?" Sakura asked eagerly.

"I think Jiraiya-sama's taking Naruto under his wing again so that Naruto can finally top off his skills – so that he can become Hokage. And very soon, I might add." Ino answered seriously.

Sakura sent a surprised look to Ino. If there was any other reason why Naruto left, she certainly didn't expect that reason to be this. "Hokage? What makes you even think that? And why so soon?" she pressed.

"Oh, come on, Sakura – you, of all people should have noticed by now. The rumour mill has been spinning for the longest time – the word is, Tsunade plans on ending her term as the Fifth within a few years, and instead taking a more background role, probably with the Medical Corps, I imagine. And if she's retiring, then obviously a new Hokage will have to be selected!" Ino answered again.

Now that Ino brought it up, Sakura did begin to see the pieces falling into place. Recently, especially in the past year, she had noticed that Tsunade was becoming increasingly impatient and restless with her duties, and passing them off more and more to others. For one, Sakura had nearly double the number of classes to teach at the medical branch of the academy than she did two to three years ago. And then there was the fact that Tsunade had been ramming a lot of medical techniques, far more than usual, down Sakura's throat recently. "I suppose there might be some truth in that," Sakura conceded, if with a little reluctance.

"We also know that most of her reforms have finally taken effect in Konoha," Ino continued. "Her mark has been made, and now she feels as though her work has been done, mostly." Ino stepped back a little as a child and her mother passed by in between them. "And it's not like she was entirely eager to take on the job in the first place, anyway."

_That is true,_ Sakura told to herself. _She always told me she didn't really want the massive responsibility of the Hokage, but rather the whole ordeal with Naruto, Orochimaru and Jiraiya many years ago inspired her to take up the helm._ _Maybe that inspiration has begun to wane…_

"And so, if she leaves, there HAS to be a replacement." Ino repeated. "Look at the list of any possible candidates. There aren't too many, and it should be obvious who they are."

Sakura nodded. Now Ino's reasoning began to make sense. It was undeniable that Naruto was incredibly talented and powerful, in some cases, impossibly so. In her experiences with Naruto on missions the past few years, it was clear that Naruto had began to come to terms with his Kyuubi power; he was able to control the physical manifestations of its immense chakra, and the "four-tail" incident that had happened further in the past would not happen again. And of course, Naruto had received considerable personal tutorage from Jiraiya-sama himself, a person who also could have become Hokage at one point in the past if he had chosen to. Whatever childish and immature traits he once exhibited, albeit considerably, had long evaporated years ago. Naruto, now in his prime, had become quite intelligent, observant, and collected, if not quite as overly outgoing and optimistic as he was when he was younger. Obviously the years of hardship as a ninja had taught him many things – and it had earned Naruto the rank of jounin three years ago, at the age of 17.

"As well, there is another serious candidate to consider," Ino said. "Hyuuga Neji."

_Neji?_ Sakura asked herself, mildly surprised. But then again, she began to see the feasibility in that rumour too. Despite Naruto's growth in terms of maturity, if one were to compare Naruto with Neji, it would be not too exaggerating if it were like comparing a jounin to a chuunin. Neji was without a doubt surprisingly mature and intelligent far beyond his years. Even when he was much younger, this was evident. He had become a jounin relatively early at the age of 16, far earlier than anyone else in Sakura's graduating class. He regularly practiced meditation, and always seemed to have a wise answer to every situation. No doubt he had the patience, foresight and intelligence to become a Hokage. And of course, the power of the Byakugan, one of Konoha's most powerful and famed bloodline techniques, was considerable. It was rumoured that Neji had mastered all known aspects of the Byakugan, and possibly paved his way to more amazing discoveries of the bloodline that only he himself was capable of knowing.

"And last, but not least, the third candidate is…" Ino smiled.

Sakura was confused again. "Who?"

"_You_."

_Me?_ Sakura could hardly believe what she heard. Her? There was no way that could ever be true. _I mean, compare yourself to Naruto and Neji! _She told herself adamantly._ In a fight they'd wipe you with their eyes closed and a hand behind their backs!_

"That wasn't funny, Ino. You could've thought of something more convincing than that!" Sakura retorted, chuckling lightly.

Ino seemed slightly hurt by Sakura's remark. "But it's true, and the rumour is out there! Think about it Sakura. Compare yourself to the Fifth right now. In terms of medical knowledge, you know almost as much as Tsunade does – maybe a little less, but it's superseded by the fact that you've made a few discoveries that the Fifth never even thought of. Then, in terms of strength; you're probably as strong as she is. I even remember Kakashi remarking that you had better chakra control than the Fifth does. And lastly, most people think you've got the leg up in terms of personality traits; you're not nearly as lazy as she is." Ino explained with careful deliberation. And she began to sound quite convincing too. "Like I said before, think about it – in a few years, you will be superior to the Fifth in every way!"

The last line hit Sakura like a smack in the face. The truth seemed to rush to her all at once. _In all my years, I've never really…noticed. I've never really cared about being stronger than the Fifth..._ she realized to herself. _I've only cared about helping others, and…ultimately finding Sasuke…but it's true…how different am I from Tsunade-sama right now? _

"Anyway, I'll let you absorb THAT for a little while. I gotta get going, I've got a date to catch…" Ino giggled. She gave Sakura a quick friendly hug, who was still standing still in shock. "Don't be late for your class, teacher!" she called out as she left behind Sakura.

_Does Konoha truly think I'm capable of becoming Hokage?_ Sakura wondered to herself as she turned around slowly and made her way to the Academy building, zoning out completely as she did. _What would I do? How would I manage? How would I defeat my enemies and protect the village?_

It was in her deep thought that she did not notice a rapidly growing shadow forming behind her. It was only when she was completely blanketed that she turned around.

Sakura nearly screamed as she did. Twin giant snakes, each the size of a large building, were bearing down on her with impossible speed…their mouths wide open, teeth exposed, tongues flicking outward in search of it's next prey…


	4. Chapter 2: A Dose of the Present

Hey again, sorry for the weekend delay in getting the next chapter out - I had quite a few things on my plate for the past week. So here is the new chapter, hot off the press - I'll try to aim for next Friday as the next release date for the next chapter but I can't guarantee anything. As always comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated (feedback appears to be directly proportional to how often a story is updated!)

Anyway, I hope last chapter was "fun" enough for you guys and gals - but believe me, you'll probably never see such a lighthearted episode in a long, long time...but let's not get into that. Enjoy this week's chapter, and welcome back to the present!

Sutanreyu

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Chapter 2 – A Dose of the Present

Hanuro Sakura woke up with a subdued groan as dirt and rock fell from the ceiling of the cave floor where she slept. She coughed as some of the debris landed on her face and her rugged wool blanket. A hand came up to brush the dirt off as she willed herself upwards off the cave floor. A thin layer of cloth was the only thing between her and the hard, cold stone floor; it was her makeshift bed. Her hair was in disarray, kept only in shape by a single band, and was a dull pink now.

_When was the last time I had a proper shower?_ She asked herself. She dared not venture a guess. She looked down at her clothes, only to find them in an equal state of dirtiness. Her red top and brown leggings were torn in several locations and covered with bloodstains from the hundreds of wounded patients she saved. _Hopefully I can get these replaced soon…_

A thunderous boom, followed by trembling and another fall of debris and dirt on her clothing brought Sakura back to the situation at hand.

_We're under attack, again?_

Sakura brushed aside her worn blanket to the side and got up quickly. Looking right, she saw her used combat vest and gloves lying untidily on a small wooden table, along a few medical scrolls, some ink and pen, and a faintly glowing lantern. It illuminated the miniature cave room she called her private office.

_Office of the Medical Ninja Corps Head. How extravagant. _ She had thought to herself on many occasions.

Sakura went over and grabbed the green combat vest, which like the rest of her outfit, was bloodstained and torn. Throwing it over her head, she donned the vest, inhaling its old musky smell. Then followed her trusty black gloves. She took a final quick glance at the unfinished scrolls on the table; she had stayed up late last night to try to formulate a new healing technique designed to deal with ruptured kidneys.

Her room trembled again as she grabbed the lantern and made her way towards the exit, blocked by a thin cloth. Gently pushing it aside, she exited the room and turned right down the dark, unlit underground rock corridor, which was barely two men wide and one man tall. Holding the lantern close to her face, she passed by several other makeshift rooms on her way down the corridor; some of the rooms were used for storage of supplies; others temporary sleeping quarters when the patient room was overloaded.

She finally came to the end of the dark corridor. A single wooden door awaited her. Behind it, she heard the muffled sound of frantic voices, moaning, and screaming. She put her free hand gently on the wooden door, ready to push.

_This is it…_Sakura readied herself with a sigh, and opened the door.

Utter chaos awaited her on the other side. Sakura quickly stepped back, avoiding a near side collision with a frantic nurse carrying medical tools. Dozens of stretchers, most of them filled, were laid out on both sides of the relatively large underground room in front of her. The room was dimly lit by several torches mounted on the rock walls, as well as the faint blue glow of the moon that trickled in from the exit up the stairs on the opposite side of the room. A handful of medical ninja, perhaps half a dozen at most, were impossibly busy treating wounded ninja. Some of the patients were old ones, perhaps several days old; others looked like as if they had just entered, judging by their cries of pain.

"Sakura-san! Sakura-san!" a young female medical ninja ran to her, carrying several tools in her hand. Her mouth was covered with a mask. "I-I have a patient with multiple wounds in the right shoulder, upper chest, and left hamstring! I…I-I can't stop the bleeding from multiple sources! I need help, please!" she stammered.

Sakura placed a firm grip on the panicked nurse's shoulder. "Alright, stay calm, you're not going to save any lives with a shaky hand holding those tools, understand?" she assured the panic-stricken nurse with a confident voice. "Remember the number one litany for all medical ninja:"

They both simultaneously repeated the litany. "_You cannot heal what you fear."_

The youth ninja almost immediately relaxed her shoulders with a sigh, and nodded. "Let's go save a life." Sakura gestured to the wounded patient, and the two of them made off.

The rookie nurse continued to work on the shoulder she had started with prior, and Sakura went to the other side of the stretcher, laying down her lantern on the ground, and began work on the wounded ninja's chest. She extended both of her hands down toward the wound directly below the man's left breast until it was hovering several millimetres above. She began to focus her chakra to her hands until a faint green glow appeared. Edging her hands slightly closer to the wound, she sensed her chakra slowly beginning to mingle with the wounded ninja's own. That was the first stage in chakra healing – establishing the link between the patient and the doctor. Next was for Sakura to help ease the patient's chakra flow, which was probably boiling over the wound right now. Once that was accomplished, she guided his chakra with hers and began the actual regenerative process over the wound. Almost instantly, she saw the effect; the flesh began to twist and turn slightly, and started to mend itself.

The ninja, a middle-aged male who was probably no older than Sakura, winced with pain, and slowly turned his head towards the Head Medical Ninja. "Hey…cough…it's you…" he managed. "You're going to…cough…make…cough me even stronger than before…cough when you're done with me…cough right?"

Sakura's stare did not waver from the wound. Now her chakra was fully intertwined with his, and together began the healing process by enhancing the chakra flow to the wound. "Just stay still," she said. "It'll help speed up the process."

The patient managed a light chuckle. "You know…they say it's because you're…so…cough…pretty, patients under your care seem to…heal faster…"

Sakura, mouth only slightly agape, sent a sharp cursory look towards him. If there was one thing that seemed to remain constant throughout her career as a medical ninja, it was the uncanny ability for adolescent male ninjas around her age, even when suffering near-fatal injuries, to hit on her while operating on them. "Just keep your mouth shut, hotshot." She responded slyly, re-concentrating back on the task at hand.

It was but another half minute before Sakura had the chest wound temporarily dealt with. The bleeding had stopped and the skin cells in that region were in full regenerative mode. In the meantime, two more medical ninja had entered the room to assist with the new flow of patients. Grabbing a roll of gauze from the table beside her, Sakura began to wrap the wound. She was just about done when several new ninja came barging in from the entrance upstairs. One of them was shouting loudly at the other.

"Hang in there, you sorry excuse for a ninja! Quit screaming like a genin, already!" the voice exclaimed harshly. Sakura heard the _thump_ of a body being placed on one of the stretchers. "Nurse, we need some help over here!" the same voice called out.

A slightly annoyed Sakura turned her head around to the new source of disturbance. It was him again. _Always barking out orders,_ Sakura reminded herself with disdain. With a deep sigh, she finished up treating the chest wound on her patient, and then instructed the other nurse to deal with the less critical hamstring injury.

Sakura paced towards the new patient near the entrance, and the three ninja standing over him. Specifically, two ninjas, and one very large _dog._

"Kiba, I can't have you causing a ruckus every time you come in here with someone new," Sakura scolded the loud ninja as she approached him. She went beside the new patient and took a quick glance at the wound. A deep cut right below the right knee, probably incapacitating any movement.

Kiba, dressed in a black hoodie sweater, rolled his eyes. "Hey, hey, it's not my fault I'm yelling so loud," Kiba defended himself sharply. "It's this guy here, making such a fuss over such a small injury-"

"HEY!" Sakura interrupted loudly, growing increasingly impatient with the rash ninja in front of her. "I won't have any of this in MY ward, understand me? We have medical ninja here trying to do their job, and the LAST thing both they and I need is some hot-headed ninja here trying to make a scene!" she continued, pointing at the desperate situation behind her. "Now if you're in here, you're either helping us or NOT getting in our way. If that doesn't work for you, then feel free to LEAVE."

The two locked eyes for a moment, and Kiba realized the genuine seriousness in her words. He raised his hands in apology. "Ok, ok, I apologize," Kiba said soothingly. "I was out of line."

Sakura allowed herself a quick smirk. "Good, I'm glad we agree on something." She nodded, and began to work on the knee injury. "Orihime-san, could you assist me please, over here?" she called out behind her.

A skinny, young orange-haired woman responded and came up behind Sakura. "Yes, Sakura-sama?" she asked eagerly. She took a quick look at the patient's wound. "Did you want me to treat this man?"

Sakura looked at Orihime and nodded. "Yes. I remember you have an excellent knowledge of the anatomy of legs. He has a deep slash wound directly under the knee. You know what to do." She instructed. The orange-haired ninja began her work.

Sakura barely managed to catch Kiba and Akamaru leaving the medical ward out of the corner of her eye. Lifting her head, she chased after Kiba until she was right behind him. "Kiba! I need to speak with you for a moment, if I may."

A slightly surprised Kiba and Akamaru stopped as they were about to climb the stairs out, turned around and looked at Sakura. "Hey, look, I already apologized about earlier-" he responded sharply.

"That's not it, Kiba." Sakura interjected sternly. She paused for a brief moment. Carrying a worried expression on her face, Sakura asked reluctantly, "What's the situation out there on the battlefield?"

Kiba stuttered for a moment. _She shouldn't be worrying about this. She's the head nurse._ "Well…" he managed. "…the Sound forces attacked earlier than Shikamaru anticipated. Our defense has been caught off guard, and the northwestern trench has been breached…"

"Breached!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise, closing in on Kiba. She definitely did not want any of her medical ninja to become panicked. "Then doesn't that mean-"

"Yeah." Kiba interrupted, staring directly back at Sakura. "The way between the front lines and this medical ward is not secure. That's why your medical ward isn't flooded with wounded yet – we can't even ferry them back here because its too dangerous. We-" Kiba gestured to the large dog beside him – "only got here because Akamaru had him on his back, and I was covering Akamaru."

Sakura's worried expression grew as she recoiled slightly away from Kiba, who was still staring intently at her. _It's that bad…_she thought to herself.

Kiba's eyes seemed to dart back towards the entrance for a briefmoment. "Look, I'm going to post two more guards outside the Ward in case the Sound Ninja manage to discover its location. In the meantime, just do your job and-"

"No, wait." Sakura interrupted. "Take me with you. To the front lines."

At first Kiba thought Sakura was delusional. But he quickly recognized the familiar seriousness in her voice. Not that she seemed to joke around much nowadays, anyway. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Kiba almost jokingly, responded, "What the – Sakura, are you crazy? The battlefield is no place for a nurse-"

A firm grip on his outstretched arm stopped his condescending remark cold. The grip tightened, and then slowly, but surely, began to wrestle Kiba's hand off Sakura's shoulder.

"First off, we're 'Medical Ninja'. I don't know which one of you military hotshots started calling us 'nurses' and then deciding to confine us to medical wards, but the original Medical Ninjas were part of a four-man ninja team, ON the battlefield. And that's where you need me, since, like you said, there is no current way of treating the wounded." She responded bitterly. "Secondly, I'm the Head Medical Ninja, AND a jounin-class ninja. That means my combined rank supersedes yours." She pushed Kiba's arm further away until she could no longer reach. "Thirdly, I'm the protégé of the Fifth Hokage – don't you _dare_ underestimate my strength." Her eyes moved suggestively towards the current struggle with Kiba's arm.

A shocked Kiba looked down at his arm. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't even budge his arm a single bit. _Damn…she IS as powerful as the Fifth…_He bit his lip and looked back up to Sakura, who was wearing an expression of certain satisfaction. "Alright…just let me go…" he bit off, slightly resenting every word. _Damn, I got shown…_ "I'll take you there."

Sakura let go of Kiba's arm.

"BUT…" Kiba added, rubbing his wrist with his other hand where Sakura had grabbed him, "Once you're up there you're in my field. I know what's happening and I know the best way back to our defence lines. Listen to my orders, and they might just save your life." He continued before Sakura could interject, and pointed at Akamaru. "And I want you to ride on Akamaru too, for your protection. Not to mention we need to get there fast, and sorry to say, I don't think your speed is as…outstanding as your strength."

Akamaru woofed.

Sakura sent a half-raised eyebrow towards the insanely large dog beside Kiba. It was the size of a fully grown man, and indeed it seemed as if it would have no trouble carrying her on its back. And Kiba had probably ridden him many times before. But still, the prospect of riding on an overgrown dog was none too appealing to Sakura at all. "Kiba, thanks for the gesture and all, but, I really don't need to ride on a dog." She insisted.

Now it was Kiba's turn to be offended. "Hey, hey – a second ago you were ranting on about improper titles – don't YOU dare call Akamaru a 'dog'!" he countered. Akamaru barked at Sakura. "Besides, I really don't want to have Akamaru carry you all the way back here when you get injured because you didn't accept our help. That'd be embarrassing…for the both of us."

Sakura sighed. _Good riposte, that._ She closed her eyes and nodded in defeat. "Alright." She moved over uneasily to the large dog, giving it a once-over with her eyes. Akamaru growled slightly, staring back at her as she moved over to its back. "Kiba…uh…you're sure he's ok with me riding on his back?" she asked, if a little nervously, putting a light hand on Akamaru.

Kiba snorted. "Hah! After THAT attitude, he'd probably want to throw you off at the first chance." He replied. "But don't worry, Sakura-san…we'll make sure your trip isn't too...rough. Isn't that so, Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked twice in agreement.

Sakura gulped, and carefully began to straddle Akamaru's back, like a horse. "Just keep your chakra focused on the areas where your body makes contact with Akamaru and you'll stick like glue," Kiba suggested. Once Sakura was completely settled, (albeit looking quite worried at the same time), Kiba gestured towards the exit. "Alright, let's go!" he commanded as he sprinted up the stairs, with Akamaru following close behind. She hazy orange hue given off by the torches inside the Medical Ward gave way to a dim grey as she rode up the stairs outside.

Sakura noticed drops of rain trickling down her nose as she rode outside the Medical Ward. From the thick grey clouds swirling slowly above, came a slight downpour. _How many years has it been since Konoha has seen sunshine?_ Sakura asked herself, looking upwards solemnly at the never-ending grey blanket. In the far distance, she made out the brief flash of lightning. Seconds later, the boom of thunder followed. She looked at the scenery around her. She was in the middle of a desolate plain, once filled with lush grass and wildlife and decorated with the occasional rock formation. Now, it was a scarred and ruined battlefield. The grass had all but died years ago, and now grey dirt and rock dominated the area around her for several square miles. Tiny craters, caused from stray exploding tags, littered the ground around her. The sound of several explosions echoed far from the east, and Sakura turned her head in that direction. It was coming from the front lines, the long trench where the forces of Konoha had made their defensive stand. The rain around her began to intensify.

_It's like Konoha is crying from all the war and conflict…_

An outstretched hand grabbed Sakura's shoulder, snapping her from her momentary daze. "Hey, stay with me here." Kiba cautioned with a serious tone, staring directly at Sakura. "I'll try to watch your back as much as I can, but there are no guarantees. Look out for yourself!"

Sakura's gaze switched from the distant battle far away to Kiba. She nodded firmly. "Right." She agreed, re-bolstering her chakra connection with Akamaru. "I'm ready when you are."

Kiba seemed to grin slightly, as if in anticipation for the battle ahead. He turned towards the east. "Let's go, Akamaru!" he commanded eagerly. Bending forward towards the ground, Kiba laid his two hands down, mimicking the stance of a canine. Growling ever so slightly, he focused all of his chakra onto his feet and hands, and with a sudden burst, sprinted off to the east using his legs and arms. Akamaru barked, and chased after Kiba closely.

The initial rush of speed nearly caught Sakura off guard – she didn't expect the two to be _this_ fast. She recoiled slightly as she threatened to fall off her mount; she quickly applied more chakra between the connection, and she found herself once again firmly seated on Akamaru. The wind blew through her pink hair as the three made their way to the faraway trench. It was then Sakura experienced momentary exhilaration at riding Akamaru. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt a certain sense of déjà vu. She had ridden on a great beast before, on that fateful starry night, more than five years ago…

_No._ Sakura thought to herself firmly. _Now is not the time to think of such things. And besides, it means nothing to me now. He means nothing to me now…_

"Sakura-chan!" Kiba's sudden warning pierced her mind like a dagger.

Sakura snapped out of her momentary daze, and looked up in surprise. In the corner of her eye, she made out a miniscule flash approaching her from the right. _Kunai!_ It was coming straight at her. Still attached to Akamaru, she had no flexibility to evade it…


	5. Chapter 3: Into the Fray

Hey everyone…I'm not sure if this fic has been read by anyone in ages (because I sure haven't done diddly-squat with it in said period of time…), but hey, here's a new chapter after a pretty freaking long hiatus (a year, maybe?). Anyway, an email from someone who had read my story just recently inspired me to take up the proverbial pen again. Thanks so much to you. Hopefully this will be the beginning of more regular updates, but I can't promise anything. I'm just so busy nowadays. Anyway, I've been writing this one for some time now, bits and pieces here and there. It's an action-packed chapter, so enjoy! Hopefully I'll see you all soon.

Sutanreyu

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Chapter 3

Akamaru pushed on all of his legs and strafed with impossible speed towards the left as the kunai whizzed by Sakura's ear, just barely missing contact by a few centimetres. Sakura grunted as the g-forces threatened to push her off Akamaru. With her right hand, she quickly reached down to her weapon pouch and fumbled for a kunai of her own. In what seemed like an eternity, she her finger finally seemed to slip into the circular ring that was attached to end of a kunai's handle, and pulled it out of her pouch. Twirling it on her finger, almost habitually, she then gripped it with her hand. She made out the sound of another kunai flying towards her. Detecting its exact trajectory, she quickly raised her kunai and deflected it with the blade with a sharp _klang_, just centimetres away from her face.

She had been caught off guard, but now she was on edge. Her battle senses heightened, and she looked around from side to side, on the alert for more attacks. Meanwhile, Akamaru boosted his speed to catch up with Kiba, who was ahead by nearly ten metres. Kiba took the moment to quickly glance at Sakura. "See, what did I tell you?" he exclaimed as he turned his head back forward. "You daze off way too much! Stay alert!"

Sakura apologized as her eyes continued to the scan the terrain ahead of her. The pace quickened now; they were making their way rapidly towards the front line, which spanned well over five kilometres. Such was the entire distance the outnumbered Leaf ninja had to protect. The total distance between the Medical Ward and the forward trench was at least a full two kilometres. While some ninja had initially rejected the idea of having the critical medical centre so far away from the trench, they realized they had no choice: the entire area was nearly completely barren, and thus there was no other suitable sheltered location to establish it. There were a few medium sized rock formations littered in between, that was used as cover or vantage points for attack. It seemed as though the enemy sound ninja were using them for that exact purpose now.

Kiba seemed to take notice of this fact. "Yo, Sakura! There's at least two to three sound ninja attacking from the mini-cliff up ahead to your right." He stated as he began to shift his direction towards the cliff. Akamaru followed suit. "We can't let them run rampant in the dead zone or attack the medical ward. We're going to take them head on. Can you handle this?"

Sakura sent a scornful look at Kiba; not that he could even see it anyway, since he wasn't looking at her. "The first time was a mistake. It won't happen again, Kiba." She assured him, reaching for several more weapons in her pouch. Switching the kunai to her left hand, she grabbed a pair of shriuken and held them with her fingers. "And of course I can handle a few sound ninja! I'm still a jonin-level ninja! I'm not THAT rusty!"

Kiba smirked as they continued to pace towards the cliff. "Heh…looks like I wasn't quite clear." He replied, almost casually. At that moment, he dodged a thrown kunai slightly to the left. "I wasn't referring to _them…_the question is, can you handle…staying on Akamaru while we attack?"

_Egotistical braggart!_ Sakura exclaimed to herself. _Who does he THINK he is, anyway? _

"This attack had better be at least half as good as your bragging is,"Sakura snapped, bracing herself for Kiba's upcoming strike.

"Then let's begin," Kiba ordered immediately. In mid-stride, he raised his right arm and reached for the breast pocket on his combat vest. He pulled out two small round objects; they seemed like candy to the unsuspecting eye. But Sakura knew exactly what they were, and they definitely weren't mere candies.

_Soldier pills…_Sakura told herself. _Then…is he going to…?_

Kiba popped one into his mouth, still rushing towards the enemy, and then casually flicked the second one towards Akamaru with his right hand. Leaping just slightly, Akamaru caught it in midair with his mouth, and swallowed it with a chomp.

Almost immediately, Sakura's legs felt a slight rumble emanate from Akamaru. The pill was starting to take effect. She felt the hairs on Akamaru's back slowly rising and stiffening; the increased body heat coming from the inside; the pulse of his heartbeat rising quickly. She then took a quick look at Kiba. The quickness of his strides had nearly doubled in a matter of a few seconds, and was now moving far more rapidly than ever before. She then felt a similar sudden surge of speed of her own as Akamaru quickened his pace as well. Sakura, with her hair flying backwards uncontrollably, had to squint her eyes from the sheer force of the wind blowing against her as she struggled to stay on her ride.

Kiba reached into his weapon pouch without slowing down, taking out two small grey objects. _Smoke bombs?_ Sakura guessed. Her prediction proved to be true, as Kiba threw them towards the ground several dozens of metres ahead of him, in between him and the rock formation just nearly a hundred metres ahead. The bombs exploded with a bang as they began to pour out thick large grey clouds of smoke in all directions, obstructing her view of the cliff ahead. Akamaru and Kiba's pace quickened again, and Sakura barely had enough time to cover her face with her hand, still holding the shruiken, as she found herself charging directly into the thick smoke.

---

"What?!?" The three sound ninja that had been lying in wait for an ambush were certainly not expecting this. A few minutes ago, they had hidden themselves here, perched up high on the small rocky hill, in hopes of quietly picking off isolated ninja scrambling back and forth from the front lines. And just recently, they had picked out their first targets: two ninjas, one riding on a large animal. The targets had looked vulnerable and unsuspecting. But their first few attacks had been parried easily, and now the hunters had became the hunted.

At that very moment, the same dreadful thought came to the three sound ninja.

_Had they bitten off more than they could chew?_

"Hold your position!" the leader of the group rasped, looking back at the other two. He reached for another kunai from his weapon pouch. "Even if they manage to get here, we've secured our position with traps placed around the perimeter. Once they attack, they will spring the traps, and then we'll have them!"

The other two nodded with a slight uneasiness, but took confidence in their leader's orders, and reached for weapons of their own. From their position, they were hiding behind several large rocks, with only their heads exposed marginally. From a completely tactical point of view, they had every foreseeable advantage. This fact gave the three ninja hope as they prepared for the counter-attack.

Then it happened. Appearing out of the thick grey cloud that was pouring of the smoke bomb on the far right, the lead attacker of the three enemy ninja approaching them began to accelerate rapidly, his pace doubling. He then pushed himself slightly off the ground, about a meter, and in mid-air twisted sideways. He began to spin violently as gale winds and grey smoke began to appear around his impossibly rapid twisting body, swirling in the same direction as his spinning. He looked like a miniature sideways tornado, that was quickly growing in size and length as it bore down on the rock formation they were perched on.

"He doesn't have the height or speed to reach us up here!" the leader of the sound ninja exclaimed, gripping tighter on his kunai. "What is he doing?" The two other ninja crouched behind him had no answer.

The tornado, which had seemed to hit it's apex of size, sped towards the base of the rock formation they were on.

"He's a fool," one of the sound ninja remarked. "At that height, he's just going to hit solid rock-"

"GATSUUGA!" a piercing yell echoed through the air, silencing the sound ninja.

His prediction proved to be true as the large tornado impacted the base of the rock with a deafening crash, sending a humongous tremor throughout the entire area. Huge pieces of rock debris and dust flew in all directions outwards from the point of impact. The sound ninja almost lost their balance in the sudden carnage. The tornado, despite having hit solid rock dead on, did not seem to lose its rotational speed, nor did it seem to be repelled by the rock - it seemed to be _digging_ in further. At that moment, it seemed to the sound ninja as though the entire rock formation they were on – nearly five stories high and several buildings wide – began to tilt.

In the confusion, the sound ninja almost failed to notice a second, similarly-sized tornado flying out of the smoke clouds ahead, bearing down on the rock formation. This one was coming from the left and was attacking at a similar angle as the first attack.

"What?!?!" the lead sound ninja managed to exclaim as the second Gatsuuga collided, increasing the tremors in the rock. Now it was uncontrollable – it was almost as though there was a large earthquake shaking up the entire region. The three sound ninja grasped whatever rock they could in an attempt to stay stabilized. In desperation, one of them threw their kunai at the right tornado, which was effortlessly deflected by the swirling winds of the Gatsuuga attack.

The rock formation began to buckle and crack under the intense assault of the two Gatsuugas. _So that was their intention all along?! _ One of the sound ninja realized. _Instead of attacking us, attacking our defense?!? This was impossible_! he told himself. _How can you destroy something like this?!_

And then it happened. The entire rock formation imploded on itself as the two tornadoes forced their entire way in. Gigantic fragments of rock, smoke and dust burst out in all directions, sending the three sound ninja flying into the air uncontrollably.

One of the sound ninja flew straight into a gigantic chunk of rock debris in midair, immediately knocking him unconscious as he rebounded off the rock, dropping straight to the ground below.

"Ichigo!" one of the Sound ninja proclaimed as he saw his fellow comrade go down. In that moment of distraction, he failed to see the kunai hurled straight towards his neck. He let out a quick cry as the kunai pierced his throat, killing him instantly.

The third and final Sound ninja was at least able to see his attacker before he fell. Up from above, he made out the silhouette of an enemy ninja bearing down on him. Raising his arms in front of him in defence, he braced himself for the worst. It was not nearly enough. He barely caught a glimpse of pink hair as his assailant's impossibly powerful punch shattered the bones in his arms and connected squarely with his face.

Sakura landed cleanly on the ground, crouched on one knee, as she finished her attack from above. She got up quickly and saw the handiwork around her; Fragments of rock and dust slowly falling down towards the ground. She turned around as she heard the sound of a dog barking from behind. It was Akamaru, trotting along slowly, coming to pick her up. As Akamaru slowed to Sakura's side, she casually mounted him once again, brushing her now-dirtied hair back from her face.

"Not bad, Sakura-chan." Kiba praised as he ran up to beside Akamaru, on his left. He took a quick glance at Sakura and grinned. "At least your timing is alright."

Sakura returned the expression. "I would like to think I'm not _entirely_ helpless, thank you." She retorted, looking straight ahead. The trench was less than a couple hundred meters north, and from that distance Sakura was able to make out several details. There was some smoke pouring upwards from a spot in the trench lines. That must be were the Sound ninja had broken through, Sakura realized. She heard the distant sound of combat, yelling, and kunais _clanging_ against each other a bit to the east – it seemed the battle had carried on into that direction in the trenches. Several more explosions thundered in the distance.

It became apparent that the battle was not going well at all for the vigilant forces of Konoha. "Kiba, we must hurry!" Sakura pleaded.

"Yeah." Kiba managed to get out in between his strides, which had quickened considerably. Akamaru did the same, and Sakura felt the immediate boost in speed as the wind flying by increased in intensity. "We're going to head in hot, Sakura – there will probably Sound ninja and our ninja fighting just about everywhere – you need to stay sharp, you hear me?"

Sakura nodded as she arched her back lower towards Akamaru, mentally prepping herself for the oncoming battle. "I'll lay down some cover for your approach with a Gatsuuga or two; Akamaru will carry you directly into the trench. Beyond that, you'll have to get off and fend for yourself – I'll need Akamaru's hand if the situation is as bad as I think it is." Kiba continued as he began to slowly shift over to the right so that he was directly in front of Akamaru and Sakura. She then saw Kiba reach for yet another soldier pill from his side pouch, and watched him swallow it whole. Almost instantly, Kiba's speed began to increase, until he was about 20 metres ahead of her.

At that point, Sakura was able to see several dozen bodies moving eastward ahead, just beyond the trench. It appeared as though Sound ninja were pouring through the breach in trench in waves. _This doesn't look good for us,_ Sakura realized. _Even with Kiba and Akamaru doing the best they can, we're still heavily outnumbered in this area…_ She couldn't make out any visible Leaf ninja anywhere near the breach, but she did see a handful of Leaf ninja around her in a large radius that must have survived the initial attack, all scattered and fighting for their lives, barely able to hold their own, let alone trying to stop the flow of Sound ninja escaping past them. _It looks like we'll have to fight our way through dozens of Sound ninja just to get to our own forces…_

The Sound ninja that were pouring through the breach seemed to be making their way south past the trench and then circling back around east towards the other trenches from the rear; with the Konoha defenders facing a fierce onslaught from the north along the entire trench, they would never be able to respond the flank attack that was now coming from behind; it would be a disastrous attack if Sakura didn't do anything about it.

"Woof! WOOF!"

Sakura was barely able to recognize the whoosh of thrown kunai approaching her and Akamaru before the explosive tags attached to them exploded in midair, sending her and her mount flying. She lost her chakra grip on Akamaru, and with a cry, landed on the hard rocky ground with a thud, knocking the wind out of her.

It was a brief moment before Sakura found herself regaining some consciousness. She realized she couldn't breathe, and quickly pressed her hands on her chest, using her chakra to help reopen the path to her lungs. Taking a deep breath, she coughed as she felt the fresh wave of air enter her lungs. Still, her vision was completely blurred and her ears were ringing from the shockwave of the explosion. _So those are the special sound explosive kunais I've heard so much about over the years…_ Sakura managed to think to herself. _The aural aspect of the explosion must've been enhanced tenfold so that anyone who wasn't killed in the explosion but was at least somewhat near it would still be rendered deaf, and any cognitive functions would be temporarily impaired…_

Barely managing to get up from the ground amidst all the chaos and explosions around her, she looked around for any sight of Akamaru. Turning around, she found the dog collapsed about twenty feet behind her, seemingly unconscious. Staying low, she ran towards him as fast as she could, keeping her hands around her ears to protect her from more explosions around her.

"Akamaru. Akamaru! Wake up!" Sakura pleaded as she shook the dog with her hands. It was no use. A dog's hearing was far more sensitive than a normal human being's. An amplified explosion that close to them must've knocked Akamaru completely unconscious, possibly causing long-term damage.

_Dammit…_Sakura swore to herself, looking down on her fallen comrade. _I'm alone now…_

There was another whoosh behind her, and Sakura saw the shadow of a ninja cover her. Whirling around, she saw a gripped kunai heading straight for her head…

But the kunai never made it to her head. The Sound ninja screamed in agony as he was suddenly engulfed in fire as a Goukakyuu fireball impacted him from behind, sending him flying over Sakura and she ducked for cover.

Turning her head around in amazement, she saw a battered and war-torn Leaf ninja racing towards her, with a whiff of fire from his mouth. "You alright?!" he yelled out as he approached her. "Common, we have to regroup and-"

He never had a chance to finish his sentence. Another Sound ninja appeared behind him, and with a single slash, took down the Leaf ninja. That was the last straw. With a cry of anger, Sakura got up, and with a leap of speed, raced towards the Sound ninja, fist outstretched. The Sound ninja never had a chance to react as Sakura's fist connected fully with the enemy's face, shattering every bone imaginable in the human face and sending the body flying backwards dozens of metres. Still panting from the effort, Sakura turned around towards the body of the Leaf ninja who had just saved her life. Crouching down, she saw the he had been slashed in the throat, and the bleeding was uncontrollable at this point – he couldn't be saved. He was still conscious, but what was left of it was slipping rapidly. He managed to raise his trembling right arm, and pointing behind Sakura at a tower about a hundred metres away.

"The…the lookout tower…it…" the ninja managed to rasp as he gurgled blood. "…help…"

The trembling arm dropped in a heap as the Leaf ninja died.

Looking behind her, she saw the Leaf lookout tower the now-dead ninja was pointing at. There were three towers along the entire Konoha trench line: one in the east, one at the centre, and one at the west, where Sakura was right now. They were designed with two purposes; to main one was to keep a long-distance watch, as it's name implied. The second purpose, however, was less clear…

An idea fathered and implemented by General Shikamaru, each lookout tower had a special scroll tag attached at the top of the tower. If at any point one of the three main trench sections were in need of reinforcements, the tag would be released be the Leaf ninja manning the tower and following it would be a large flash and a VERY loud alarm wail, attracting the attention of the other Konoha forces to the east, indicating the call for help.

But from what Sakura could tell, nothing was coming from that tower.

_What's going on?_ She asked herself, squinting at the tower. _Why hasn't the alarm tag been activated? _Looking even harder at the top of the tower, she finally realized why. The guards on top of the tower were all dead, and in their place were at least four Sound ninja, on the alert for any attempts from other surviving Leaf ninja to get up to that tower to release the tag.

_How did they manage to get up there before the Leaf ninja could release the alarm tag? They can't be THAT fast? _Sakura told herself. But it made no difference. As long as the Sound was in possession of that lookout tower, there would be no way to signal that the western trench was breached and that Sound ninja would soon sneak around from behind and flank the other trenches. Taking a quick glance around her, she realized that any other remaining Leaf ninja in the area were in no position to do anything about it.

_No one's noticed me yet,_ Sakura said to herself. _And I'm so close to the tower…I have to do something about it or we're all doomed…but the tower is too well protected for me to attack directly, let alone even get close to the top where the tag is…and the Sound ninja are probably armed with stupid explosive kunais and other long-range sound ninjitsu…what can I do?!? Think, Sakura, think!_

And then the ridiculously simple solution dawned upon her.

Getting up with a determined expression of her race, applying the chakra she had to her feet, she made a suicide dash for the tower…


End file.
